Perfect Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter cookies. While my love for peanut butter doesn’t run very deep, I am completely obsessed with peanut butter cookies! Not just any peanut butter cookies though, I love mine soft and thick, no flat, crispy, pancake-y nonsense here. If that’s what you’re into, these are definitely not for you. These cookies are one of the many peanut butter things requested by Mike {some of his favorites are these bars or his birthday cake last year}, they’re his absolute favorite, and I realized this weekend that I have never shared my recipe with you guys! I don’t know how that happened because I make these ALL the time! They’re my go-to recipe when we need a peanut butter fix and I know you’ll love them!

These cookies are so versatile, you can stuff any thing you want into them, leave them plain, or roll them in sugar like I have pictured here. Other great options are: M&M’s, chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, peanut butter cups or make peanut butter blossoms out of them with candy kisses. If you decide to make peanut butter blossoms (ya know, with a chocolate candy kiss on top), just bake these cookies and the second they come out of the oven, press the candy kiss on top. My favorite way to eat these is with chocolate chunks pressed into the top after baking – mmm! Though, I decided to make them plain – just rolled in sugar – for you guys just so you can see how amazingly thick and plump they are without anything in them!

I mean, just LOOK at those soft centers! Can you even stand it?!

If you are looking for a go-to peanut butter cookie recipe for your recipe archives for whenever you need a peanut butter fix, because surprisingly I even get those sometimes, look no further, these are it! They’re the most perfect peanut butter cookies EVER. End of story.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar together until smooth with no lumps. Beat in the egg,vanilla and peanut butter until completely combined. Pour in flour and baking soda and mix until just incorporated without over-mixing. Dough will be very soft and sticky. Chill dough for at least 15 minutes.

Measure granulated sugar into a small bowl and set aside. Roll 1" rounded tablespoons of dough, roll in sugar and place about 1" apart on prepared baking sheet (they don't spread much). Bake cookies for 7-8 minutes. Allow to cool for only 5 minutes on baking sheet and then move them to a wire rack to finish.

These perfect peanut butter cookies will stay soft and fresh for up to 6 days stored in an airtight container.

I have a problem with the baking time. I baked my first pan at 8 minutes and could tell they were not nearly done so I added another 2 minutes. After cooling and trying them the center was still not done.

I have not had any trouble with my oven with all the other things I have baked so I don’t really feel it is my oven.

Connie, I’m so sorry you had trouble! I double checked the recipe and the bake time is correct. These peanut butter cookies are meant to be under-baked because doing so lends a very soft-baked cookie. When they are taken out of the oven they will look very under-done (this is what makes them super soft) but by the time they cool completely to room temperature they should still be very soft, but definitely not under-done like dough. If they were still not done after cooling completely, then I fear it could possibly be 1. your oven temperature is incorrect or 2. could you possibly have misread ingredient measurements? I have made these cookies a billion times (it’s the only pb cookie recipe I use!) with the same, consistent results and they always look exactly like they are pictured here. Let me know if I can be anymore help!

I just made these and had the same problem, Connie. Put them in an extra 2 minutes. Next time, I think I’ll aim for 12 minutes. That said, even underdone (definitely still doughy in the middle) they’re delicious!!

There seems so be a few reviews like this on these cookies and I think it has something to do with the oven temperature. Everyone’s oven temperature varies from the next so that may be why that happened. Please keep in mind though that these are meant to be underdone because that gives them their super soft-baked texture once they are cool. I hope they were still great after the extra time in the oven!

Late bloomer…
but just found this recipe and I don’t like writing reviews till I try it. ummm WOW! Thank you for a recipe that actually creates a soft cookie. I made these and took them out at the correct time, looked under done but went for it. After letting them cool they were the perfect soft pb cookie. My new go to recipe.
Thanks!

I made these today and unfortunately the bottoms burnt on both of my batches. I rolled the first batch in sugar and thought that was the reason the bottoms burnt but my 2nd batch I didn’t roll them in sugar and they still burnt. Disappointing

I’m very sorry that the bottoms of your cookies burnt, that’s very frustrating! I’m unable to pin point why this could have happened, because it has never happened to me or any of my readers, that I know of. Did you possibly use dark cookie sheets? Sometimes the dark cause the bottoms of baked goods to brown very fast resulting in burnt bottoms. The only other thing I can think of is maybe your oven temperature is not accurate. Again, I’m sorry these didn’t work out for you!

The dough is chilling now. I had no clue what “melt half way” meant, so I just let the butter get super soft by the stove. I also used dark brown sugar, and 1/2 creamy peanut butter and1/4 chunky. I’ll let you know how it turns out. The dough tastes awesome.

I just found this recipe about a month ago. My older brothers are practically connoisseurs of peanut butter cookies these days, and I’ve always made them from the box (or bag) from the local grocery store. They were great but the brand recently changed their recipe! We were so disappointed (and I didn’t know what else to do since I always give my brothers a batch of peanut butter cookies for their birthdays). ANYWAYS, long story short, we did a taste test on June 13th (one of their birthdays), pitting this recipe against four others. This one won, and my god, it deserved it. Melt in your mouth goodness, and they come out perfect every single time.

Thank you for sharing a recipe that I’ll be using the rest of my life!!

I love this recipe so much but I hate making them… half the dough gets eaten before we can get it on the baking trays…
Seriously though, I love how versatile this recipe can be and how easy it is to make.

I just made these and put a tiny dent in the top of the cookie and filled it with a small amount of strawberry jam. It worked really well.

I made these these cookies for my peanut butter loving husband and children, pb has never been a personal favorite of mine, and I ended up loving them. I also had cookies that were not cooked at eight minutes, so I extended the time to ten minutes. After letting them cool in the pan for a while (longer than five minutes) and then in onacooking rack, the center eventually set. I wonder if higher elevation could be a contributing factor for myself and other’s who found the center gooey. I am tempted to add a tablespoon or two of flour to see if that helps, but I don’t want to mess with a good thing, because once these cookies set, they were delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

I just made these, used a scoop to ensure my cookies were of uniform size. Baked at 350 for 7 minutes they are amazing! I already baked 20 cookies and still have quite a bit of dough left, so I’m going to get a yield greater than the 24-25 stated in the recipe.

Lovely cookies. I used vegan egg replacer, so they stayed in perfect ball shapes, which was actually kind of fun, but they turned out scrumptious despite not flattening even a tiny bit. I also used olive oil as the fat. I sprinkled them with pink salt because I realized after rolling them into balls that I used unsalted PB, and I’m all about that salt I may reduce the sugar by a couple tablespoons next time I make them because they were a *tad* too sweet sweet for me. Thank you for the recipe!! I cannot wait to make them again!

[…] Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Cream your butter and brown sugar unto smooth and there are no lumps. Add the eggs, vanilla and peanut butter. Mix until completely combined. Add flour and baking soda and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix it. The dough will be soft. Chill the dough for 15 minutes* Add the white sugar to a small bowl and set aside. Roll the chilled dough into 1″ size balls then roll in the white sugar. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes. Once they are done, remove from the oven and press the chocolate heart (or kiss) on top if using. You could also press chocolate chunks on top or leave them plain. Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then remove to a cooking rack. If you don’t want the heart to melt, place the cookies in the fridge after pressing the chocolate on top until the chocolate sets. The cookies will stay soft for up to 6 days if stored in an airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen cookies Notes: *I made these without chilling the dough once and it worked too. Recipe Source: Sprinkle Some Sugar […]

[…] in your mouth over here. My readers have been doing some serious lovin’ on my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe lately, so I decided to use the same recipe but change them up a bit and stuff them with some […]

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Hi there! I'm Jessica. Thank you for stopping by my little space of the web! Here you'll find lots of easy and delicious recipes that have been tested and approved by myself and my family. Baking and cooking is my passion so I hope you enjoy my creations!